Swaraj in Dhaka, urges Myanmar to exercise restraint on Rohingya

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 22

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Sunday held talks with her Bangladeshi counterpart Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali in Dhaka.

The two leaders co-chaired the 4th Joint Consultative Commission discussing a gamut of issues, including trade and investment, security, connectivity, border management, power, energy, shipping, people to people exchanges.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

The two delegations also reviewed progress on recent key initiatives and decisions. 

In her joint statement, Swaraj underlined the willingness of the two neighbours to fight common challenges.

“One such challenge is that of terrorism, extremism and radicalisation and we will continue to fight this scourge together and along with other like-minded countries.  We are both determined to protect our societies from the threat of ideologies of hate, violence and terror by adopting a zero tolerance policy and a comprehensive approach in fighting violent extremism and terrorism at all levels,” said Swaraj. 

The external affairs minister expressed India’s deep concern at spate of violence in Rakhine state of Myanmar which has led to the influx of some 8,00,000 refugees to Bangladesh, adding to the existing Rohingya refugee population in the country.

In her joint press remarks with Mahmood Ali, Swaraj urged for the situation to ‘be handled with restraint, keeping in mind the welfare of the population.’

Dhaka has been urging Delhi to leverage more influence on Myanmar to seek peaceful return of Rohingya to their country.

“It is clear that normalcy will only be restored with the return of the displaced persons to Rakhine state. In our view, the only long term solution to the situation in Rakhine state is rapid socio-economic and infrastructure development that would have a positive impact on all the communities living in the state,” she said, adding that India supports the implementation of the Kofi Annan-led Special Advisory Commission report.  

This is Sushma Swaraj’s second visit to Bangladesh as foreign minister. She called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, met with opposition leaders, including Begum Khaleda Zia.

On Monday, Sushma Swaraj will inaugurate the New Chancery Complex of the Indian High Commission and 15 development projects funded by Government of India before returning to Delhi.

India has extended three lines of credit amounting to USD 8 billion to Bangladesh so far. In addition India has also extended grant assistance for small socio-economic projects.